Magnetic Properties
by Jayne DLM
Summary: Hermione and Draco are studying to become healers. What could go wrong? *Fluff piece*


Magnetic Properties

Hermione was in the early stages of training to become a healer. She had become accustomed to the demanding workload which included practical experience at St Mungo's Hospital as well as a heavy study load with lectures, reading, assignments and tutorials.

Her first rotation at St Mungo's had been in the Emergency Department. This placement gave her experience in dealing with a wide variety of illnesses and injuries. She had seen countless injuries caused by the Weasley products, broom accidents, and spells gone wrong. She had also seen dragon pox, nightshade fever, mumblebumps and even a few cases of splinching.

St Mungos had taken on ten trainee healers that year, and Hermione got along with her fellow trainees. That was with the exception of one Draco Malfoy. While they had never had a confrontation, it was fair to say they were not friendly. Hermione would often roll her eyes at his obnoxious comments, and he would scoff at her answering questions and being a 'know it all'.

If you asked Hermione what she thought of Draco, she would have said he hadn't changed since school. That he was still the same arrogant git she had always known. However the truth of the matter was that Draco had changed and Hermione had noticed. He was taller, his body had filled out, and his face had matured with a chiselled jaw line and a dusting of blonde stubble to match. But what vexed Hermione above all else was that despite her best efforts, he somehow had matched her marks.

Of course Hermione used this academic rivalry as motivation to work harder. After all, she wanted to be the best and was not about to let Malfoy get in her way.

About half way through the first year Hermione received a pleasant surprise. She had been selected to spend a rotation in the Research Department of the hospital. The Research Department was known as the hub of medical innovation and development of diagnostic spells and treatment methods. Needless to say, being invited for a placement was not only a huge compliment but also an invaluable experience.

Hermione's excitement remained high, right up until she arrived at the research wing on her first day. There she saw Draco Malfoy. He was leaning against the wall outside the head researcher's office reading a book. He looked suave in his expensive blue cloak, perfectly styled hair and designer reading glasses.

"What are you doing here" Hermione questioned unable to hide the tone of annoyance from her voice.

Draco raised his eyebrows but did not look up from his book.

"I expect the same thing as you Granger" he replied dryly.

Over the course of the next hour, Hermione and Draco met with the head researcher. Both managed to keep their faces neutral when they discovered they would be working together throughout the rotation.

As they left the office, Hermione decided to offer an olive branch.

"Malfoy wait" Hermione called out to Draco who was marching ten paces ahead of her. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of her voice and turned on his heel to face her.

"Yes?" he responded with no idea what the witch wanted.

Hermione took a few steps forward. She clenched her fists and jutted her jaw forward stubbornly. She decided that she would not allow her issues with Draco impact on her training.

"This rotation is a fantastic opportunity" Hermione started.

"Well thank you for stating the obvious" Draco retorted sarcastically which caused Hermione to roll her eyes at him.

With a smirk he folded his arms and waited for her to continue.

"What I mean is…I think we should put our differences aside" Hermione looked up at Draco hopefully.

After meeting her innocent hazel eyes for a moment, Draco looked to the ground to collect his thoughts. He believed that she probably saw him as a death eater who was unredeemable. However there was one thing he wanted to make clear one and for all.

"Look Granger…" Draco started.

He ran his hands through his hair feeling uncharacteristically unsure of what to say next.

"I want you to know that I do not believe in the blood prejudice non-sense. I am sorry for everything" Draco said earnestly.

Hermione nodded and bit her lip before Draco continued. However while Hermione was expecting a deep and meaningful thought, Draco had other ideas.

"Do you promise to withhold your annoying know-it-all tendencies?" Draco said with a smirk.

Hermione was affronted and ready to hex him until she saw the glint of humour in his eyes.

"Only if you promise to withhold your arrogant git tendencies" she retorted quickly.

"That is hardly likely Granger" he responded with a chuckle and with no further comment strutted away.

During the first few weeks it was safe to say that while Draco and Hermione took their work seriously, and worked surprisingly well together, they antagonised each other with a hint of humour.

Draco would hide all of Hermione's ink. Hermione would sneak chilli powder into his coffee, Draco would put a sign that said "kick me" on Hermione's back, Hermione would jinx his book to bite him whenever he went to touch it, Draco would feed her lunch to his owl. This went on and on until one day a seemingly harmless prank had serious consequences.

Hermione and Draco had been tasked with monitoring a potions experiment over a 24 hour period. The monitoring involved measuring for any temperature changes as well as taking observations on its colour, odour and other factors.

The experiment itself was very interesting, even if Hermione and Draco's job was not. The potion contained magnetic properties which were theorised to draw the body's natural healing capabilities towards that which needed to be healed and amplify its effectiveness.

It was the first hour and Hermione and Draco sat dutifully at the table with parchment, quills, ink, and a cauldron full of this potion.

Everything started professionally with Draco taking the measurements and Hermione dutifully taking notes.

"Hey Granger, I hope you can keep up" Draco quipped as Hermione was furiously writing down his observations.

"I don't think _that_ will be a problem Malfoy" Hermione replied with a hint of annoyance to her voice.

Draco chuckled to himself. Truth be told he enjoyed annoying Hermione. It was too easy to get a reaction out of her.

Now 8 hours into the experiment most of the researchers were leaving for the day. Draco had continued to annoy Hermione throughout the day with his constant quips and smartass remarks and her patience was starting to wear thin. In a moment of weakness, she glanced down to the floor and noticed that Draco was wearing black shiny lace up shoes. She smirked to herself as she discretely retracted her wand and cast a spell which tied his shoelaces together.

Hermione smirked as the alarm went off which signalled that they needed to take the measurements and make the observations. She watched smugly as Draco went to stand up and move off from his stool.

In slow motion Draco felt the restriction at his feet as he tripped. "What in Merlin's name?" Draco snarled as he glanced downwards to see his shoelaces tied neatly together. Hermione smirk remained plastered on her face until the moment that Draco came barrelling down towards her.

Draco proceeded to fall into Hermione, knocked her off the stool and together they toppled onto the table with a loud thud. Equipment and ink went flying and the cauldron rocked back and forth haphazardly. Before Hermione or Draco could move away some of the potion splattered onto them. The purple substance seemed to disappear into their skin within moments leaving no visible trace it had been there.

"Shit" Draco and Hermione exclaimed in unison as they tried to disentangle themselves from one another and get off the table.

"Get off me Malfoy!"

"Granger stop trying to cop a feel will you!"

"I'm most certainly not trying that, now get off!"

However it was only then they realised something was very wrong. The more energy they put into moving away from each other, the harder they were flung back together. It was not dissimilar to when an elastic band is stretched to its limit and then snapped back into place.

"This is all your fault Granger" Draco snarled as he tried desperately to get away only to be pulled back to her quickly by some invisible force.

"Shut it Malfoy, you are not helping" Hermione growled back as she too tried to get away from him.

It was a few minutes of furious scrambling away and colliding back together before exhaustion set in. The two were utterly dishevelled, bruised, battered, and breathless on the ground. They were also still entangled with Draco on top of Hermione.

Hermione withdrew her wand from his holster and fixed Draco's laces. She was full of regret.

Through the silence and stillness, the cogs in Hermione's mind started to turn to the problem at hand.

"Malfoy, I want to try something"

"I'll try anything to get out of this".

"Alright lets try and stand up together and not try and break apart immediately".

Draco just nodded.

"Alright, one, two, three and stand".

Draco and Hermione stood in unison with Hermione's front right up against his back. They stood stiff as boards, neither wanting to move for fear of more battery.

After a moment of standing still, Hermione couldn't help but notice how warm Draco was. Clearly her assumption of him being cold like a wet fish was wrong. She quickly shook her head and mentally scalded herself for allowing frivolous thoughts at a time like this.

Draco gulped as he too noticed how alarmingly good it felt to have Hermione pressed up against him.

"I want to try something Granger" Draco huskily spoke, clearing his dry throat.

Slowly, and not breaking contact, Draco turned around to face Hermione. He was just over a foot taller than her, so his chin was just above her head. He inhaled slowly trying to calm himself. However instead he caught the delicious scent from her hair which seemed to amplify how good it felt to have her pressed up against him.

The two stood like this for a moment awkwardly, both affected by the other and unsure what to do next.

"When we do not struggle, at least we are not hurled back into each other" Hermione observed, trying to remain practical.

"I wonder if we can break some contact" Draco questioned.

He slowly moved his hands to Hermione's. His index finger grazed the palm of her hand which sent an electric shiver through both of their bodies.

Hermione took Draco's lead and slowly intertwined her small delicate fingers with his.

Their bodies were still intimately touching when Hermione looked up to meet Draco's eyes. She noticed they seemed softer somehow.

"Ok now lets try and step apart" Draco suggested calmly.

Hermione nodded and she took a tentative step backwards, breaking all contact with the exception of their hands.

To their relief they were not flung back together.

Draco then slowly withdrew one of his hands from Hermione's.

Again to their relief, nothing happened.

"Maybe it was just a temporary reaction?" Hermione speculated as she cautiously withdrew her other hand from Draco's, trying to break all contact. However faster than they could comprehend they collided together again.

"Ok that didn't work" Draco said with some amusement has be looked down at Hermione who was right up against him again, her wild hair everywhere.

Once again, he took her hand and stepped away.

"It seems that as long as we are touching, there is no reaction" Hermione mused.

"Hmmm" Draco sounded, feeling slightly regretful that she was not against him.

"We should document all of this" Hermione stated

"Agreed".

Together and holding hands, Draco and Hermione did their best to clean up the mess they had made. Being unable to move independently and having to hold the others hand took some getting used to, but out of necessity they made it work.

This time Draco took notes as Hermione look the measurements and made the observations of the potion that was in the cauldron. They also made notes on what they had experienced when the potion made contact with their skin.

Once this was done they had approximately 40 minutes until they were required to take measurements again.

"I think we should try a cleansing spell. That should get rid of any remanence of the potion" Draco suggested.

Hermione nodded her head in agreement. She withdrew her wand and cast a cleansing spell over them both.

Draco hesitantly tried to let go of Hermione's hand, but alas, before they knew it, they were together like a sandwich once again.

Hermione huffed in frustration.

"Do you have any ideas?" Draco questioned, equally as frustrated.

"We could try a shower and new clothes?" Hermione cringed even as she said it. The thought of showering with Draco made her all kinds of awkward and uncomfortable.

Draco tried to ignore the excitement he felt at the thought of what Hermione kept under her robes.

"I will try anything, we cannot remain like this" Draco said attempting to sound casual and unaffected.

Hand in hand the two quickly made their way down to the lockers. They retrieved a change of clothes and headed for the showers.

Unfortunately due to the configuration of the showers, there was no way they could shower separately.

Getting undressed proved a challenge when they only had one hand to use. So instead they ensured their feet touched to allow them the use of both hands.

Not making any eye contact, hand in hand again, they stepped into the shower. The hot water fell over their bodies, and both Draco and Hermione just stood side by side, neither daring to look at the other. Subconsciously, Draco rubbed Hermione's hand with the pad of his thumb, as if to try and sooth her.

"Think this will work?" Hermione broke the silence.

"I hope so" Draco said a little half-heartedly.

The two stepped out of the shower, still hand in hand. They cast a drying spell before awkwardly getting changed.

Once dressed Draco and Hermione looked at each other, hand in hand, and in unison counted to three.

"One, two, three" they chanted.

They once again broke contact, but this time they were not catapulted back together.

A strange feeling crossed both Hermione and Draco as they stared at the distance between them.

"We had better go back to the laboratory" Hermione said, trying to sound business like.

"I suppose we had better" Draco reluctantly agreed.

He looked over at Hermione and wondered if she was feeling what he was. Ever since the war he had promised himself to live every day like it was his last. So with a breath of steely courage, he outstretched his hand and gestured shyly for Hermione to take it.

She did without question.


End file.
